Inti Raymi - Festival of the Inca Sun God (1994) [i]
The Inca Festival of the Sun God, Inti Raymi, is a major spectacle. Until the Spanish conquest, snow white llamas were sacrificed each year on the winter solstice at Cuzco 's Coricancha temple and the future predicted from their entrails. The Spanish banned the pagan festival and destroyed much of the temple, building the church of Santo Domingo on its foundations.
The Inti Raymi ceremonies were reinstituted in 1944. Since then they have been performed annually at Sacsayhuaman, an Inca fort a few kilometres out of town. The setting is magnificent. In the distance there is the snow capped peak of Nevada Chicon , rising over 19,000 feet above sea level. The nearer mountains are brown and bare. There are no trees apart from a few eucalyptuses near the huge figure of the Christo Blanco ("White Christ") who stands with his arms outstretched. The town of Cuzco is hidden in the valley below. Beneath the Inca masonry there is a natural arena, the size of a couple of soccer pitches. Foreigners pay $25 to $40 for seats on wooden terracing, but locals, in their thousands, and gringo backpackers perch on the Inca stone work and surrounding rocks for free.
From early in the morning, the citizens of Cuzco climb the steep paths up from town. Fires have been lit in a field to bake newly harvested potatoes. Men, women and children are busy selling popcorn, chiclets, ice creams, Inca Kola (a fizzy drink which looks like urine and tastes like cough medicine) and sun visors with the words "Arriba Cuzco" ("Up Cuzco"). Rainbow coloured flags flutter. There is even a multi- coloured hot air balloon giving rides. For those perching on the rocks, the day is one long picnic.
The ceremonies begin early in the afternoon, with men in feather headdresses and brightly coloured cloaks carrying banners into the arena from its four corners. They represent not only the four elements of earth, fire, water and air, but also the four suyos, or provinces, of the Inca Empire. They are followed by musicians, men in tunics with putotos, long stemmed wind instruments, and women with drums called tindias. They are joined by soldiers carrying axes and shields with bold geometric motifs. By the time the Inca and the Inca's wife are carried onto the stage, there are over 300 participants, dressed in bright magentas, yellows, blues, reds, greens, oranges and blues. The Inca invokes the spirit of Inti Raymi, thrusting out his arms towards the sun, and calling out in Quechua. Four piles of straw are set ablaze to symbolise the sacrifices which were made in times gone by, but, thankfully, the llamas which are tethered in a pen at the rear of the arena are left unharmed. Then, there are demonstrations of folk dancing from different regions of Peru .
The ceremonies performed at Sacsayhuaman are the set piece of the Inca Calendar, but, with a few changes, they could be a representation of any ancient civilisation. Swap the pumas for lions, remove the llamas, add a few hieroglyphics and pyramids, and they could be set in Egypt .
For me, the real attractions of Cuzco during Inti Raymi are the evening processions and carnivals which take place on the city streets before the main festival. The best of these is the children's carnival three nights earlier when the streets from the Avenida del Sol ("Avenue of the Sun") to the main plaza by the cathedral are packed. Each school class puts on its own show as part of the procession, to the accompaniment of brass bands or more traditional Andean music with drums, flutes and breathy pipes. Each group of children is preceded by a banner naming the class. One of the most common presentations is the llama dance - children with white stocking masks with painted eyes, noses and mouths, striped ponchos, boards covered with material on top of their heads, cuddly animals tied to their backs and long tails which they wave around as part of the dance.
Another common dance is that of "The Drunkards" - boys with pink masks and long noses, cowboy hats and black leather jackets. Their dance involves waving empty beer bottles at each other and the crowds and, when the music changes, putting arms round each other and staggering forward.
Other classes make huge dinosaurs or fishes out of paper on bamboo frames. They crawl up the Avenida del Sol, breathing fire, followed by a large paper tank and huge soft drinks bottles.
Among older classes, some of the dancing is more sensual and even overtly erotic. Some groups wear shiny green or orange costumes, with sequins and false shoulders, and among the girls, short skirts. Some of these participants simply twist, while others perform exaggerated dances, waggling their breasts and shaking their hips. The most sensual dance in the procession was however performed by Class 4C. Twelve class mates carried a table with a branch of a eucalyptus tree "growing" out of it. On top of the table there was a boy wearing a striped skirt, a sash, sunglasses and a long black wig, but with a bare chest and bare legs. He too was dancing, shaking his hips, waving his legs and entwining himself with the eucalyptus tree.
But it is not only the performers who are fascinating. The throngs of revellers dancing and milling around the streets are just as absorbing. Indigenous women with homburg hats set up their kitchen tables in the plazas grilling meat and potatoes, selling salchipapas (an Andean version of sausage and chips) or stirring huge boiling cauldrons of punch. Men with red striped ponchos and alpaca hats with ear flaps joke and drink together.
The contrast with the solemnity of the Catholic services taking place simultaneously in Cuzco 's many churches could not be greater. It may be over 450 years since Francisco Pizarro conquered Peru and Catholicism became the official creed, but much of the pre-colonial spirit and religion remains.